In Niger, US seeks to hang on to its last, best counterterrorist outpost in West Africa

As several European countries evacuate Niger following a coup, the Biden administration seems intent on staying. It sees Niger as the United States’ last, best counterterrorism outpost — and until the coup, a promising democracy — in a West African region known as the world's epicenter of terrorism. Abandoning Niger risks not only a surge in jihadist groups in the region, but even greater influence by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group. And 10 days into the coup, life has become more challenging for U.S. forces at a counterterrorist base in a remote area on the Sahara’s edge.